The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Thursday condemned Poland for violating the “right to privacy” after a woman had to have an abortion abroad in 2020 due to “uncertainties” in the law at the time.
The applicant, born in 1981, was pregnant with a fetus suffering from Down Syndrome.
Although a 1993 Polish law allows abortion in cases of fetal abnormalities, the Constitutional Court still ruled this to be incompatible with the Constitution on 22 October 2020. The decision, which caused widespread protests in the country, only came into effect on 27 January 2021.
15,000 euros for moral damage
However, between these two dates, there is uncertainty regarding the legislative impact of the decision. Fearing she would no longer be able to legally obtain an abortion in her country, the young woman, who was 15 weeks pregnant at the time of the Constitutional Court’s decision, traveled to the Netherlands, where her pregnancy was terminated at a private clinic.
Judges in Europe condemned Poland “unanimously” for violating “the right to respect for private life”, guaranteed by Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, and ruled that young women were “directly affected” by the law change.
“The Court specifically considers that the applicant’s interference in exercising his rights resulted from the situation of enormous uncertainty that existed between the Constitutional Court’s ruling in 2020 and its publication in 2021”, an uncertainty that was exacerbated “both by the absence of transitional measures and by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic”.
Poland must pay him 1,495 euros for material damage and 15,000 euros for moral damage.
“Fair assessment”
“This is a fair decision, the only possible one,” said Natalia Broniarczyk, from the NGO “Aborcyjny Dream Team,” noting that every day since the Constitutional Court decision “at least seven women go to clinics abroad to have abortions.”
“We welcome this decision, but we still need funding to support the women who contact us every day,” said Mara Clarke from Supporting Abortions for Everyone (SAFE).
At the end of 2023, the ECHR already condemned Warsaw in a similar case. Based in Strasbourg, the ECHR is the court responsible for ruling on violations of the Human Rights Convention in the 46 countries that have ratified it.
